First off, the Big Sioux Conference will come to an end and be replaced by the Dakota XII Conference. This will result in a few significant scheduling changes. There will no longer be a conference tournament in girls or boys basketball but rather a twelve-team classic. That Dakota XII Classic will be held on one day at one site with teams being seeded 1-12, and the night’s last game pitting the two top-ranked teams against each other. The other sports will continue to have conference tournaments, although the formats will be changed to incorporate four more teams. In my opinion, wrestling reaps a scheduling reward as Tuesday nights in December through January will be Dakota XII Quad nights – which really allows wrestling to have “its night.”

Another change on next year’s horizon is the fact that it is a realignment year. Harrisburg is going to AA in many sports; Baltic is going to class B; and numerous other schools will move up or down depending on their enrollments. This realignment is done every two years by the Activities Association. From the enrollments, schools are put into classes then separated out into regions and districts geographically - which brings up another change on the state level. In volleyball and basketball there will no longer be district tournaments. Teams will be divided into eight regions – approximately eight teams per region – with the champion advancing to the state tournament. Although our football won’t be greatly affected, a change has been made in our state with the addition of a 11AAA football class. It looks as though we will remain in 11A and in a region similar to where we’ve been.

Here on the campus of D.R.H.S. there are many smaller scale changes in the works. Long-time volleyball coach Dale Solberg has resigned from coaching so pending the hire of a suitable replacement, it looks like our volleyball team will have a different look. The loss of the conference tournament and Harrisburg moving up means some new opponents needed to be added. As a result the girls basketball and boys basketball teams will be playing Sisseton and Mount Vernon-Plankinton while the volleyball team will be in the Pentagon Classic. The football team’s schedule is set by the SDHSAA, but we will probably be adding Vermillion and Lennox to our schedule. Also, work is in progress to update the Quarrier Mascot, add a great new trophy case and continue to make improvements to our facilities.

Although change is never very easy and does add a bit of stress to those involved, it looks like some exciting changes are in store for the Quarriers and our fans. Let’s finish strong. We’ll see you at a game .